Dane - A MacKenzie Novel (19 page)

“Why are you pushing this, Dec?” Cade scooted
his chair back and went to get another cup of coffee, not wanting
to face the sympathy he saw in his brother’s face.

“Because you’re an idiot. And because you
deserve to be happy. What are you really afraid of here, Cade?”

He braced his arms on the counter and lowered
his head, knowing that he could keep denying what he felt all he
wanted, but that didn’t mean it would go away.

“Dammit,” Cade swore, rubbing his palms
against his eyes. “You want to know what the hell I’m afraid of?”
he demanded, his voice an angry whisper. “I feel guilty because
what I felt for Carmen doesn’t even come close to what I feel for
Bayleigh. It makes me wonder if I even know what love really is. If
I ever knew. What if I let myself love Bayleigh the way she
deserves to be loved, and then she’s taken from me? I can’t even
imagine the pain of losing Bayleigh, because what I feel for her is
so much more.”

“Do you really think you have a choice of
letting
yourself love her?” Dec asked, leaning back in his
chair on two legs, his gaze steady and sober. “If you didn’t love
her already you wouldn’t be struggling with yourself. And telling
yourself that you don’t love her won’t make the pain lessen if
something does happen to her. It’s all about the time that you have
and making the most of it.”

Declan dropped his chair to the floor and
gathered the file, before standing to leave.

“So now that you’ve decided to stop being a
dumbass, it still doesn’t change the fact that Bayleigh’s in
danger. If you won’t send her to a safe house, the only other
option is to use her as bait like you originally planned.”

Cade turned around and crossed his arms over
his bare chest, his muscles tensing as the words were spoken aloud.
He’d already come to the same conclusion, but having Declan say
them didn’t make them any easier to swallow. It was time for Carlos
and the cartel to be taken apart once and for all.

“Time’s wasting,” Dec said. “One of the men
we captured finally broke and gave us some information. Let’s draw
him out.”

He nodded once at Declan and went to get
Bayleigh so she could hear Declan’s plan. But he knew as soon as he
entered the bedroom that she was no longer there. The bed was
mussed, sheets twisted, from where they’d made love only a short
time before. And it
had
been making love. He’d felt it all
the way to his soul with the way she’d moved over him, bewitched
him and given him everything he’d ever desired.

“Fuck.” He looked into the bathroom and
through her closet, but there was no trace of her. She’d run. From
him. The feeling didn’t sit well.

He felt Dec come in behind him, his cell
phone already pressed to his ear as he talked to some unknown
agent, giving the details of Bayleigh’s escape and to alert anyone
working the case to be on the lookout for her.

Cade pulled on his shirt and shoes and
strapped on his weapon, grabbing his own cell phone and dialing
Bayleigh’s number. But it rang once and then went to voicemail.
Panic clawed inside him as he thought of everything that could
happen to her. She had no idea what a man like Carlos was capable
of. And if he lost her, there would be no one to blame but
himself.

Chapter Fifteen

The farther she got from Cade, the more
worried Bayleigh became. The urge to run back to him hammered at
her skull until a headache pounded in her temples. Cade might not
love her, but he’d sworn to keep her safe, and she was being stupid
taking off if there was even a hint of danger. Her family had
taught her better than that. But a mix of pride, anger, and
heartbreak had clouded her thinking.

No matter what her situation was, she didn’t
want to face Cade again. Her embarrassment was too great. But she
knew she needed protection. Her only option was to call Brant and
ask him for his help. And his silence.

The back of the cab was stuffy and she kept
an eye on her surroundings as they made their way downtown. She
didn’t have a ton of cash on her, just enough to get by for a
couple of days, so she couldn’t stay somewhere extravagant.

Ring after ring echoed in her ear as she
waited for Brant to pick up the phone. His terse voice came over
the line, directing the caller to leave a message and she sighed in
frustration.

“Brant, it’s me,” she said, wondering exactly
how much to tell him. “I know you’re friends with Cade, but—” Her
breath hitched at the mention of his name, and she had to fight for
control. “I need your help. I think I’m in trouble, and you’re the
only one I can ask. Just—call me back. Please.”

She hung up the phone and blinked her eyes
rapidly as tears threatened. They were in a crowded part of the
city, and she saw the familiar sign of a motel coming up, the
nightly rate flashing in red under the logo.

“Stop here, please,” she said, pulling the
cash from her bag and paying the driver.

Bayleigh paid cash for the room, and gave a
random name to the girl behind the counter. Since she was paying in
cash she didn’t have to leave ID or credit card, and she asked for
a second floor room close to the front office, thinking the more
exposure she had the safer she’d be.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled
it out, seeing Cade’s number flashing, and she pressed the mute
button, cutting off his call. It was the third time he’d tried to
reach her. Hopefully, he’d get a clue and stop trying. There was no
way in hell she’d be talking to him any time soon.

The room was small and sparsely furnished—a
queen-sized bed and a small desk and chair the only furniture—but
it looked clean, at least on the surface. She made use of the
coffee pot to warm her insides, hoping to soothe the uneasiness she
felt at being out on her own.

Brant still wasn’t answering, and she tossed
her phone on the bed as she went into the bathroom. She showered
quickly, leaving her hair wet since a blow dryer wasn’t one of the
room amenities, and she pulled on an oversized shirt. The phone on
the bed showed she’d missed another call from Cade, but Brant
hadn’t tried to call her back. And he would have if he’d gotten the
message.

The heavy blackout curtains were pulled
tight, but she checked them and the door locks again before
slipping beneath the scratchy sheets. Her mind wouldn’t settle, and
she tossed restlessly, trying not to think how empty the bed felt
without Cade beside her. An uneasy sleep finally came over her, her
body recognizing the need for rest even if her mind didn’t.

***

Bayleigh couldn’t say what woke her only a
short time later. It wasn’t a specific sound. More of a movement
that didn’t seem to belong in the stillness of her room. Her eyes
popped open and she waited for them to adjust to the darkness. But
they didn’t. To adjust there had to be at least a small amount of
light coming from somewhere.

The room was black as pitch, as if she were
inside a sealed tomb, and panic began to claw its way out as
disorientation played tricks on her mind. Not even the heater made
a sound as the silence covered her like a heavy blanket, smothering
the shreds of her sanity.

“Good, you’re awake,” an amused voice said,
his Latin accent smooth. “We have so little time together, I
thought it would be best to get started right away.”

A match flared and her eyes were drawn to the
flame as it lit the candles on each side of the bed. A burst of
panicked laughter bubbled in her throat at the thought that her
kidnapper was trying to be romantic, but he quickly set her
straight.

“The second floor is on a separate fuse box
than the first floor and the front office,” he said
conversationally. “It wasn’t difficult to cut the electricity,
especially since there are no other guests near you to
complain.”

Her eyes made the quick adjustment to the
meager light, but she couldn’t break her stare away from the madman
in front of her. Carlos del Fuego would have been a handsome man if
his black eyes hadn’t held so much menace. He wasn’t very tall—a
couple of inches shy of six feet—but he was solidly built, muscular
enough that it was obvious he worked out. His black hair was cut
short, and his clothes were expensive and well tailored. He didn’t
look like a killer. Except for the eyes. Those eyes couldn’t
conceal the kind of man he was.

God, she had to think, but terror was
building inside of her like nothing she’d ever experienced, and she
felt frozen, trying to remember the advice her brothers had given
her. She’d never had to fight off an attacker before, and practice
was a hell of a lot different than the actual event.

She squeezed her eyes closed and slowed her
breathing, trying to gather her thoughts and decided what she
should do.

“Now, now,” Carlos said, his chuckle grating
across her spine. “Open your eyes, little one. I want to see your
fear. It makes me hard.”

He sat down on the bed beside her and she
didn’t take time to think as she rolled in the opposite direction,
wanting nothing more that to put as much space as possible between
them. Her shoulder bumped the bedside table, making the candle
wobble precariously, and one leg slid to the floor, but he was too
fast. His hands clamped around her arms, his fingers biting into
her skin painfully, and she cried out as he jerked her back up to
the center of the bed.

His strength was overwhelming as he
restrained her arms as easily as if she were a small child. She
fought against him impotently as he did the same thing to her legs,
binding each one to the corners of the bed. She opened her mouth to
scream, but he shoved a thick piece of cloth past her lips, quickly
muffling her efforts.

She looked around frantically, trying to
think through the panic, but she was completely at his mercy. The
thick curtains had been taped down against the wall and down the
seam so outside light couldn’t get in, and he’d re-bolted the door
after he’d gained entrance. She had no idea how he’d gotten inside,
especially since she hadn’t heard him make a sound.

“It is interesting to see all of your
thoughts flash across your face,” he said. “You are wondering how I
came to be in here.” His smile was sinister, the white of his teeth
flashing between full lips that any woman would kill for. “All I
can say is that there are perks to growing up surrounded by
criminals. It’s an education you can’t get in normal
surroundings.”

Bayleigh tried to slow her breathing so she
didn’t pass out, but she wasn’t having much luck with the cloth
stuffed inside her mouth.

“There’s no escape for you now.” He unzipped
his leather jacket and tossed it across the desk, leaving him in a
plain white t-shirt that stretched around his biceps. “I guess it
serves you right for selling your body to that bastard.”

Anger flashed in his eyes, and she assumed
the
bastard
was Cade. Carlos lifted the leg of his jeans and
pulled a wickedly sharp knife from the leather sheath strapped to
his calf. Her eyes widened in fear as he turned the blade slowly so
she could see the gleaming curve of it in the candlelight.

“You see this,
puta
?” he asked. “I’m
going to take that gag out of your mouth, and if you make one
sound, I’m going to start cutting. Do we understand each
other?”

Bayleigh nodded frantically, praying for a
miracle. He pulled the wadded cloth from her mouth, and she
swallowed, her mouth dry with fear.

“Cade will come for you,” she said, wishing
she’d slept in her clothes instead of the thin t-shirt and panties
she wore. “He’ll kill you.”

“If that traitor cared for you at all he
would have put a tracker on you like I did,” Carlos said, holding
up her phone. “It wasn’t hard to slip into the house and put in the
chip while you were visiting the lady across the street. Like I
said, I’ve got talents the men who were watching your house could
never dream of.”

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled
out a pair of surgical gloves, blowing into each one before putting
his hands inside, as if he’d done it a thousand times before. Once
the gloves were on he pulled out a small vial of white powder, no
bigger than her pinky finger, from his pocket.

“Cade MacKenzie has been a problem for me,”
Carlos said. “He turned my father against me. He gained the respect
of the cartel soldiers until they only listened to his orders and
questioned mine. He seduced my sister and got her killed, and he
destroyed our original labs with the information he held. We lost
millions of dollars of this powder you can’t keep your eyes off of.
And all the while, MacKenzie was really working for his
government.”

“Good,” Bayleigh said, her eyes flashing as
the fight returned to her body. There was no way in hell she was
just going to lie there helplessly and let him kill her. If she was
going to die, then she’d do it fighting with her last breath. “You
seem to be under the impression that the bad guys are supposed to
win. I’m going to enjoy watching him take you apart.”

“He can try,” Carlos sneered. “But that won’t
change the fact that you’ll be dead. This is payback. I’ve got men
taking care of Cade’s sister as we speak. And I’ve got you all to
myself. I only wish he could be here to see how much you suffer.”
He shrugged as if Cade’s absence were a minor inconvenience. “He’ll
find your body, and that will have to be enough.”

Bayleigh bit back a scream as he brought the
knife up and sliced down the center of her shirt, the sharp blade
cutting through the fabric like water. She couldn’t help the
shudders that wracked her body as he looked her over, his gaze
stopping at her breasts hungrily before moving down to the lacy
white panties she wore. She glared at him, twisting her wrists
against the restraints, not caring as they bit into her skin.